Samsung Exec: I’ve Always Used a Mac, an iPad and an iPhone

Samsung’s chief strategy officer Young Sohn recently sat down for an interview with MIT’s Technology Review and, during the talk, he admitted that he still uses Apple products at home.

“I use a Mac, actually, at home,” he said. “I’ve always used Mac, an iPhone, and an iPad.” Sohn also said that he uses a Galaxy smartphone, although he didn’t say which one, and that he uses Samsung products at work. So why is he using Apple’s products when he works for a company that is fighting lawsuits with Apple around the globe? Well, in many ways it makes perfect sense for him to as the company’s chief strategy officer; he needs to know what competing firms are doing in order to keep Samsung on its toes.

“If you look at the strengths of Apple, in a way it’s not the product per se,” he explained .”It’s that consumers like their ecosystem such as iCloud. I like that my family 6,000 miles away in Korea is able to see my schedule and see all of my contacts and photos. It is sticky, but it is a proprietary architecture.”

Sohn said he thinks the Galaxy Nexus is a better phone than the iPhone (he didn’t say which model) because it’s faster and has a better screen, but that connected ecosystems are critical to a product family’s success. “You are only as good as your latest product, and so we’ll continue the push for innovation and talent that can put us in a new place,” he said.

The entire interview by Jessica Leber, Techology Review’s business editor, is a fascinating read and explores why Samsung also should have a presence in the Silicon Valley.